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Mayfair Shopping Centre
Use: commercial
Address: 3147 Douglas Street
Municipality: Victoria
Region: Urban core
Storeys: 3
Mayfair Shopping Centre in the City of Victoria was expanded by 100,000 square feet in 2018 as part of a high-... (view full profile)
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[Victoria] Mayfair Shopping Centre | Built in 1963 | Expansion completed in 2018


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#581 Kapten Kapsell

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Posted 05 April 2019 - 08:53 AM

Munro's selection of books is vastly superior to Indigo's, but I do think that Bolen Books could do a better job in terms of adding inventory. Their shelves could easily handle twice as many titles as they currently do because most of the shelves are stocked with 'turn outs' with the cover fully exposed, as opposed to being shelved 'spine-out' (i.e the 'normal' way).  The book business essentially works on the consignment model whereby the retailer doesn't pay the publisher for inventory until a book is sold (the retailer will typically get to keep 40-45% of the cover price of each book) and any unsold inventory is simply returned to the publisher to be 'remaindered' as bargain books.  Thus, it wouldn't 'cost' Bolen to much to increase inventory:  they would just have to deal with more returns and perhaps a marginal bit of extra overhead.

 

If I discover a book that I might want to purchase I usually check the websites of Munro's, Bolen Books, and Indigo to see which store has it in stock.  Aside from bestsellers, Munro's is often the only one of the three to have the book in stock.  While I've sometimes ordered books online, I find that I often want to flip through a book in-hand before deciding whether or not to purchase it, and (aside from bestsellers) both amazon.ca and Indigo offer minimal discounts (less than 10%) on many titles when ordering online.


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#582 Cats4Hire

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Posted 05 April 2019 - 09:48 AM

If Indigo is trying to compete with Amazon maybe they should consider more sales. When I do buy off Amazon I rarely pay full price for books. I don't know if I just get lucky with sales or if they just typically undercharge. Indigo meanwhile is either 1-3% off or full price. Their sales are always books that i've never heard of or that I own and are just cutting to what Amazon charges anyway. Comics seem to get decent sales but not novels.

#583 Cassidy

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Posted 05 April 2019 - 04:18 PM

And Best Buy used to be full of CDs and DVDs, what's your point?

It's not a difficult point to grok, but I'll try to simplify.

 

The companies legal business name is Indigo Books & Music Inc ... so my point would be that its a gross misnomer for Indigo to call themselves a "bookstore" when it's really a knick-knack and junk store ... albeit one with a large magazine rack.


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#584 Sparky

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 04:47 AM

So I was sitting on the crapper at Mayfair, catching up on recent VV posts with my phone...when I read this thread. I go to this mall for 4 reasons.

 

1- Easy parking on the upper level off Tolmie.

2- Pho Boi #11 soup in the food court.

3- Excellent massage chairs.

4- Best public crapper in greater Victoria. (truly a wonderful destination experience)

 

I immediately jumped into photographer mode and captured some visuals for your viewing pleasure for those of you who are not familiar with the recent renovations and additions.

 

First the mall itself. Not a bad space. Nice public seating. There are some couches there that have TVs to watch if you need a break.

 

MM Corridor.JPG

 

Here is a shot of the Indigo bookstore.

 

MM Indigo.JPG

 

...and last but definitely not least... the most deluxe crapper in the region. An excellent spot to deposit yesterday's lunch.

 

MM Crapper.JPG


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#585 tjv

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 06:20 AM

^my opinion, I can get the same stuff online for way cheaper delivered to my door and in some cases I don't even get charged PST when it comes from other provinces.  On that note I will admit it is hard to buy clothes online because for some reason a XL in one label is a M in another.



#586 Kungsberg

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 06:31 AM

So I was sitting on the crapper at Mayfair, catching up on recent VV posts with my phone...

Sparky gets my vote for post of the week for starting my Saturday off with a laugh!  :D


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#587 mbjj

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 07:17 AM

I buy books as gifts and always try to get them at Munroes or Bolen, though I find the lighting at Bolens quite annoying for my older eyes...it's very dim. If I want to buy myself a paperback to read, I always go to Russell books. I have no interest in supporting Indigo.



#588 aastra

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 10:39 AM

 

...I can get the same stuff online for way cheaper delivered to my door...

 

Including the washrooms? I'm skeptical.


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#589 Matt R.

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 11:42 AM

The washrooms in the Indigo store are unisex, each stall is fully finished and self contained.

Matt.
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#590 Bob Fugger

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 11:55 AM

The washrooms in the Indigo store are unisex, each stall is fully finished and self contained.

Matt.

 

So are the ones in my house.  Amazon wins again!


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#591 AllseeingEye

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 12:03 PM

So I was sitting on the crapper at Mayfair, catching up on recent VV posts with my phone...when I read this thread. I go to this mall for 4 reasons.

1- Easy parking on the upper level off Tolmie.
2- Pho Boi #11 soup in the food court.
3- Excellent massage chairs.
4- Best public crapper in greater Victoria. (truly a wonderful destination experience)

I immediately jumped into photographer mode and captured some visuals for your viewing pleasure for those of you who are not familiar with the recent renovations and additions.

First the mall itself. Not a bad space. Nice public seating. There are some couches there that have TVs to watch if you need a break.

Here is a shot of the Indigo bookstore.

...and last but definitely not least... the most deluxe crapper in the region. An excellent spot to deposit yesterday's lunch.

Doooooooood...! This is way_way TMI. Thanks for that Sparky - some visions can never be unseen. Fortunately I'd already eaten my lunch. Good to know though for next time I'm in that mall. In whatever decade that happens to be. Je-sus, lol.....but I do agree about the Pho Boi soup.
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#592 Torrontes

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Posted 11 April 2019 - 05:21 AM

As a result of Matt R pointing out that toilets can indeed be self contained, CoV is considering a bylaw requiring that henceforth all crappers be of the composting type. A form of vermifilter toilet was under consideration until someone disposed of their coffee grounds in the test unit, resulting in an exodus of the active component.

 

For further details:

 

https://en.wikipedia...mposting_toilet


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#593 spanky123

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Posted 11 April 2019 - 07:01 AM

It's not a difficult point to grok, but I'll try to simplify.

 

The companies legal business name is Indigo Books & Music Inc ... so my point would be that its a gross misnomer for Indigo to call themselves a "bookstore" when it's really a knick-knack and junk store ... albeit one with a large magazine rack.

 

Although you may consider it a junk store, I can guarantee that there is not a single product on their shelves that isn't either promoted to be there or which doesn't turn every 30 days. The big advantage that these companies have (aside from buying power) is the data analytics and information that they have available to them.

 

On the whole I think that Mayfair did a very nice job with the renovation. The entire mall got a refresh and is much brighter and appealing. Hillside on the other hand was a disappointment in my opinion.



#594 Nparker

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Posted 11 April 2019 - 07:20 AM

...Hillside on the other hand was a disappointment in my opinion.

Hillside's renovations were fine; lack of tenants in both the new space and older sections is their biggest downfall. It's also not the fault of the renovations that their major anchor tenant closed up shop.



#595 Midnightly

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Posted 11 April 2019 - 07:26 PM

Hillside's renovations were fine; lack of tenants in both the new space and older sections is their biggest downfall. It's also not the fault of the renovations that their major anchor tenant closed up shop.

 

 

they have gone through 3 anchor tenants in under 10yrs.. first zellers went, replaced by target after a significant reno.. then target left leaving an empty building for well over a year (i think it was a couple years) which finally was taken over by cantire, and then sears went..



#596 Nparker

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Posted 11 April 2019 - 09:42 PM

And Hillside was responsible how for those 3 corporate failures?

#597 Midnightly

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Posted 11 April 2019 - 09:55 PM

And Hillside was responsible how for those 3 corporate failures?

 

 

no but it does effect the other stores within the mall.. and can be harder getting smaller tenants to fill the shops when there isn't a stable anchor or two bringing foot traffic to the mall



#598 sdwright.vic

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Posted 12 April 2019 - 05:33 AM

^Well Canadian Tire/ Sport Check/ Atmosphere/ Shoppers/ Marshall's are all pretty stable.
Predictive text and a tiny keyboard are not my friends!

#599 aastra

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Posted 12 April 2019 - 08:23 AM

 

...Mayfair did a very nice job with the renovation. The entire mall got a refresh and is much brighter and appealing. Hillside on the other hand was a disappointment in my opinion.

 

I agree 100%, except flip the names of the malls around. Mayfair is the same as before, whereas Hillside was improved.


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#600 Cassidy

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Posted 12 April 2019 - 08:41 AM

IMO the two biggest advantages the Hillside Mall has over Mayfair are Bolen Books, and the new Canadian Tire.

Both stores are long time Victoria solo destinations in their own right, something the Mayfair Mall doesn't even have one of (unless you have a kid, in which case there's Toys'R'Us).

 

Add the fact that Hillside has a huge Thrifty's, AND one of the rare super deluxe Provincial Liquor Stores ... and Mayfair (which for years was #1) is solidly in second place moving forward from 2019 ... with Hillside now quite solidly #1

 

(I'll leave the crapper review of Hillside up to Sparky ... I'm only talking about the shopping end of things ... I'm not considering deposits, or places where deposits can safely be made).


Edited by Cassidy, 12 April 2019 - 08:42 AM.

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